


Hexen In the Black

by Shenandoah76209



Category: Firefly, The Last Witch Hunter (2015)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-28
Updated: 2018-07-28
Packaged: 2019-06-16 07:57:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15432498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shenandoah76209/pseuds/Shenandoah76209
Summary: Kaulder and Chloe have been around a long time.  They've pretty much seen it all.  This wouldn't be the first time the Government had experimented on Witches.  It should be the last though.





	Hexen In the Black

No one ever knew it, but he wasn't the only immortal. The Witch Queen had truly cursed him this time around. His life simply refused to end. So, he was there to see the destruction humans wrought upon the world.

It started with small things. The air growing a bit thinner every year. Central Park was a little less green every spring. The world was dying, used up, rung out, like an old dishrag and it wasn't Witches who'd done it. It was humanity.

Humanity, for whom he'd fought and bled, for whom he'd died twice. Man didn't destroy the earth in anything so mundane as a nuclear war or wiping out the species in a plague of bio-engineered disease. Though they'd tried to go both those routes a couple hundred years back. No, humanity destroyed their home through sheer unadulterated neglect.

Then they took to the stars, built huge ships for multi generations that they called Arks and abandoned the world that he'd fought for. Abandoned him.

The Witches though, they didn't leave. He supposed a few of them had, more than a few, the ones who truly wanted a fresh start, a new world. A new place where the threat of the Witch queen could be forgotten. Not all the Witches he'd met were traditionalists after all. And finally, he decided it was time.

* * *

 

Dream Walkers were a rare breed. Difficult to identify until their power managed to manifest in an unmistakable way. Often born of seemingly mundane parents with sleeping magical blood. And almost never did they live up to their potential.

Something about being bound to the Witch Queen, even for a few moments, had changed her. Knowledge unlocked, veins of power opened, she could never be sure. But with it, she had what Danique had sought so desperately, and with the added bonus of her youth being no illusion.

She'd taught others, helped them unlock some of their powers, instructing them that until they were ready to face death in themselves, that they might never reach the true peak of their talents. And she'd instilled the moral code she'd learnt in her youth. Never do anything that you cannot undo. Control of the power, the gift, was key to remaining unconsumed by it. No one would become a Witch Queen assassin if she had anything to say about it.

The last Ark was leaving. Humanity was fighting for the chance to survive, to leave the world they'd so callously plundered. When the last ship had gone, she knew what he intended to do. Perhaps it was time. The Children of Adam and Eve had their chance at the world.

Wasn't it only fair that the Children of Lilith have the same opportunity?

* * *

 

"You're sure about this?" She would never tire of looking at his face or seeing that half quirk of his lips that served as punctuation to one of his smart-ass remarks.

"Hell, we both learnt Mandarin and Cantonese. Not to mention at least two thirds of every other language on Earth," He chuckled. "Might as well put it to some use."

"And we did spend all that money building a ship." She agreed sardonically. "I suppose we ought not waste it."

"Yeah, if only to preserve the Library and the other things we both value." His smile was a full spread of those sensual lips.

"But the other thing...you're sure about that?" She looked at him, serious now and met his eyes.

Dark and solemn they looked back at her. "We won't be around to stop it. If someone truly wants her back, gets the safe open and brings her back to life...well I guess they've earned it. But we'll be long gone."

"And if her power does somehow reach across light years and into your heart?" She put her hand over his heart and he covered it with his rough palm in a gesture nearly as old as their relationship.

"Well, I've got a Dream Walker who knows a few tricks." He kissed her knuckles gently. "You and I... we're not going to end because of that vindictive bitch."

"They might not even want her; after all, the world is nearly theirs now." She mused softly.

"Even if they do... we've had a good run." His big hands pulled her close now and thick arms wrapped around her slender body. He wasn't the biggest man she’d ever seen, though during the twelfth century he'd been one of the largest and most powerful warriors in the Axe and Cross, and he was still large enough to snap her like a twig. Power though, he radiated it, like a burning star. Power and charisma that no one else could match.

"We're not done yet." She poked him in his side, jabbing at his ribs and he winced and held her closer.

"Damn right we're not."

* * *

 

"You're sure this is the ship?" Kaulder looked at Chloe with a tilt of his head. "It doesn't look like much."

"This is it. She's the last one." Chloe nodded and slipped her arm into his, walking towards the old Firefly. "It's a good ship, if a bit beat up, and needing some care."

"Well let's book passage then." He nodded at the pretty little barker. "Got room for two more?"

"Yep, two single bunks or a double." She beamed at him and Chloe impartially, sunny sweet and quoted the price of passage.

"We'll take the double." He handed over the bag of platinum. "How long until departure?"

"Soon's the Cap'n gets back," She nodded towards the cargo bay. "Folks are getting their things loaded up now. This here's Wash, our pilot." She gestured at a fellow in a colorful shirt reminiscent of Hawaii who was driving a mule loaded with a huge blue box any idiot would recognize as a portable cryo chamber.

Watching him carefully was a slender young man who might have been described as a Core dandy were it not for the medical bag he carried and the solemn expression on his face. The blue tinted spectacles he wore were another give away that he wasn't what he seemed.

Chloe nodded to him politely as they mounted the ramp and followed the mule up it. "Retina masking specs," She murmured to Kaulder. "Someone's schooled him well."

"He's too terrified to not follow the instructions he was given." Kaulder returned in the same low tone. "He has no idea what's happening."

"Ah, innocence. Such a rarity these days." Chloe shook her head and looked around the cargo bay. Beside her, Kaulder was doing the same, noting the priest with his little handcart of luggage and a bumbling sort with a couple bags of his own.

"I like how the catwalks go across both sides of the bay," He commented. "And the whole ship seems to flow outwards."

"How's she fly?" Chloe asked the pilot as he parked the mule and climbed off it.

"Like a dream most days," He smiled at her. "Planning to sail with us to Boros?"

"’Less you make us get off halfway," Kaulder commented. "That is the plan."

"If you don't mind me sayin', you two don't seem the type to book passage on a little boat like ours." Blue eyes regarded them both thoughtfully as he nodded towards the slender young man behind them. "No more than he does."

"Too well dressed?" Kaulder's deep voice was amused.

"Too well spoken," The pilot returned with a half smile. "Though you are very nicely dressed."

"We dress the way we like," Chloe shrugged as she unbuttoned her jacket. "I rather enjoy the sophistication of the simplified Victorian styles. My partner here tends to dress for comfort, but I do at least make an effort of lending him some sartorial elegance."

"Well it's not fur boots, leggings and a chainmail shirt but it'll do for now," Kaulder grinned at her teasingly.

"And you're not sporting a mohawk and beard either." She smirked back at him.

"What are you doing on this ship?" The red-haired man shook his head, smiling over their verbal sparring.

"You're headed towards Boros. We're sick to death of Persephone. And quite frankly we'd rather sail quietly than with pomp and circumstance." Chloe shrugged. "We don't mind detours; we enjoy the odd bit of color here and there..."

"And we're damn handy in a fight." Kaulder finished.

The shorter man chuckled, "Well I suppose I've poked my nose in enough for one day. But we're glad to have you aboard. If you like I can show you the double I'm guessing you booked."

"That'd be good," Kaulder agreed. "Woman packs like I'm her mule."

"It's one little trunk," Chloe protested as they followed the pilot.

"It weighs a ton," He retorted. "And I don't see you carrying it, for all your talk about equality."

"I'm carrying your bag," She shot back at him.

"I don't pack five pairs of shoes for one weekend." Kaulder set the trunk down with an ease that belied his complaining to see the pilot grinning at them.

"Well if there was every any doubt you two are married that argument just settled it." He held out his hand, "Hoban Washburne, pilot. Just call me Wash."

"I'm Kaulder," He took the pilot's hand, appreciating the firm grip and muscle behind it. "This is Chloe."

"Technically we're not married." She smiled, "We can't find a priest who'll do the honors for some reason."

"Somehow, I don't think that matters," Wash smiled at them. "Captain'll be back pretty quick and I'd best get up to the bridge."

"Good to meet you Wash." Chloe grinned after the pilot and laughed when Kaulder shut the door and pulled her close. "Oh, you are in a mood aren't you?"

"You in a little room with me and a bed, how could I not be?" He kissed her, and every other thought went out of her head.

* * *

 

Dinner was better than he’d had any right to expect out in the Black. Before they’d taken their seats, he’d caught himself gazing out of the observatory window and wondered if any of them had any idea what a Witch or magic touched immortal like himself saw between the stars.

There’d been quite a bit of back and forth between the crew and passengers, the captain of the boat doing his best to seem amiable but to someone like Kaulder or Chloe, it was a façade thin with irritation and unfamiliarity.

The big blue-eyed man with a goatee and raunchy sense of humor had been sent from the table, grumbling, like an errant child. Kaulder tuned back into the conversation just in time to hear the doctor clarify his question. “His job, on the ship?”

“Public relations,” The captain deadpanned, and Chloe smirked at Kaulder, knowing that would tickle his own dark sense of humor.

“Charming fellow,” She added with a mischievous gleam in her eyes as she looked at the mechanic. “Must be hard on him, to be near such beauty and not allowed to touch.”

“Beauty? Me?” The mechanic laughed, shaking her head. “Nah. Jayne just likes teasin’ me. He don’t mean to be snarly like that…just sometimes goes too far’s all.”

Kaulder studied her and shook his head, “No.” He let the word lie there for a moment to be absorbed before he continued. “You’re impressed with the learning and skill of a man as opposite him as its possible to be. You’re pretty and kind and he wants that for himself. Your admiration of another man, someone he can’t compete with on the same level, bothers him, so he teases you to remind you he’s there.”

The girl shook her head again, “Jayne’s like a _gē ge_ , he’s never once acted any other way towards me.”

“Because he knows I’d kill him if he did,” The Captain interjected and got a roll of the mechanics eyes in return.

“Didn’t say he wanted to court you,” Kaulder replied calmly. “Maybe you are his little sister. Still means you’re his in some way.”

Chloe nodded her agreement, a Dreamer’s knowledge in her eyes as she studied the pretty little technomage. A mage who was more than half ignorant of her own talent. “He doesn’t know the words, so he tells you the only way he knows how.”

The Witch Hunter chuckled as he finished his meal and stood, Chloe beside him doing the same and accepting his hand as her aid politely. A courteous bow to the mechanic, the captain and first mate, and to the doctor who’d stood when Chloe had, a nod to his fellow passengers and they carried the dishes to the counter near the cleaner before exiting the galley.

Chloe waited until they were back in the passenger lounge before she spoke again, “She’ll need some schooling. And the ‘public relations officer’ is fairly bristling with untapped power.”

“Yeah, get the feeling you put him on a planet and there’s nothing he can’t track or hunt.” Kaulder nodded slowly as he settled on the couch and pulled her into his lap. “Here though, it’s like he’s got it bound somehow.”

“I’ll have a talk with him maybe, see if he’s done something to himself without knowing it.” The Dreamer murmured. Before she could speculate on what, Kaulder stiffened and the Witch in question entered the passenger lounge.

“Don’t gotta do that.” The very large man sat down in the chair across from them. “I done it on purpose.”

“What, precisely, did you do on purpose?” Chloe was looking at him like he’d gone insane.

“Doesn’t hurt or nuthin’,” The man shrugged. “My gift… I gotta hunt, gotta hunt to the end. It don’t end in blood it ends in sex. Nothin’ to hunt here, cain’t sex any of the girlfolk here. Cain’t hunt ‘em either.”

“It thrives on blood,” Kaulder realized. “So, you did a binding, when you’re not dirtside, you channel it somewhere else?”

“Paid for a working. Weren’t nothin’ I could do myself, not at first. Learnt to copy it. Ain’t much I cain’t learn, I get the chance to take something apart, see it’s workin’s.” Shrewd blue eyes studied them.

“Where are you channeling it?” Chloe sounded a little worried. “If it doesn’t…”

“If your power doesn’t mesh well with whatever you’re pushing it into something could blow up.” Kaulder told him bluntly.

“That why you’re here? Witch Hunter?”

* * *

 

Chloe sighed and rolled her eyes skyward. She should have known someone would recognize Kaulder for what he was. They’d thought it would be the first mate, or maybe the Captain. Not the gunhand whose pretense of ignorance and stupidity was entirely too good. “No. That’s not why we’re here. But since we are here we could help you. That’s what we specialize in. Keeping our people from getting themselves and those around them killed.”

Those blue eyes were studying her, reading her face and body for the truth of her words, the power that thrummed around him aiding him in this, a different kind of hunt. After a moment, he nodded, and it was all she could do to sigh in relief that he accepted she wasn’t lying. “Guess you’re here for the Witch in the big blue box then.”

Kaulder didn’t act surprised that the Witch across from him knew what was in the cryo container. He was very good at not acting surprised at anything, but more than thirteen hundred years of experience tended to have that effect. “Yeah, someone thought that experimenting on a Witch would be good for profits.”

The magic around the male Witch increased to an angry near growl and those blue eyes nearly glowed before he got control of it again. The ship around them gave a little shimmy and Chloe stared at him. “You channeled your power to the ship?”

That got a roll of his eyes and he shook his head, “Nah. Wouldn’t work. Just got it making us a little harder to see. Harder for people to track us.”

“Your gift only reversed.” Kaulder’s hand squeezed her waist gently. “Pretty smart.”

The one shouldered shrug was almost embarrassed, “Ain’t like I’m super useful while we’re in the Black. ‘Less we get boarded. Which I ain’t keen to have happen.” He cast a look at the giant blue box in the cargo bay. “So, what’s the story with the Witch? And the prissy doctor fella.”

Chloe smiled at the sneer in his voice at the mention of the doctor. “He’s her brother. He’s given up a very lucrative and brilliant medical career, and used up most of his fortune, in order to break her out of the facility where she was being kept. She was the last one.”

“And they were damn invested in keeping her.” Kaulder added. “He went in, disguised, used a shock grenade and took out a room full of scientists to break her out.”

“Well that’s noble as a grape, but Cap’n ain’t gonna like trouble on his boat. He’s got enough problems.” Blue eyes looked over at the blue box again. “So, what are you doin’ here? She’s out. Ain’t that half the problem solved?”

“She’s unstable.” Chloe shook her head. “Have you ever heard of Dreamers? They used to be called Dream Walkers.” His shake of the head was answer enough and she sighed, "Dream Walkers are...one of the most dangerous types of Witches. They can go into your dreams and kill you in your sleep. They can make you see visions, illusions that'll have you walking off a cliff happily."

"Or," Kaulder added a more immediate scenario. "Convince you that opening the airlock is a great idea even if you're not suited up."

Chloe studied the man across from them and nodded, satisfied that he understood just how dangerous a Dream Walker was. "The...entity that was experimenting on Witches managed to get themselves a Dream Walker. And then they opened up her skull and cut on her brain."

"What good'd that do 'em?" The question was a good one.

"Well Jayne," She lifted one shoulder in a languid gesture of uncertainty. "We think they were trying to expand her talents. But we can't be absolutely certain."

"We know they wanted someone they could control. A very dangerous tool." Kaulder smiled grimly and Chloe knew he was drawing the same comparisons between the girl and himself. He'd sworn he would never be a weapon in someone else's hands again. The girl should be given the same choice.

"They use magic to do it?" The gunhand asked with a thoughtful look at the blue box.

"No, just plain old knives, drugs and science." Chloe knew her voice held more than a shadow of her distaste at the idea. Magic, however crazy or amazing, was a natural force. "Magic is something I could undo easily. What they did will take a bit more effort."

He nodded and stood. "Rest of 'em are headed down. I'm ta make sure ya'll have everythin' you need before shuttin' you outa the cargo bay."

Chloe nodded, "We're fine here. We'll wait until the others have gone to bed."

The gunhand nodded again and headed down the steps to the cargo bay, making his way around the various crates strapped to the grate floors and checking to be sure everything was secure.

* * *

 

Chloe frowned as Kaulder stiffened beside her. “What is it?”

Her man was already rising from the bed, dressing silently and she could hear his knives being slid into their sheaths. “The kid is moving around. And since that other guy Dobson never went to sleep that I heard, I don’t think he’s as harmless as he’s been pretending to be.”

Chloe groaned and began to get dressed. “I knew this was going too well.” By the time she’d pulled on a pair of slacks and a tunic length sweater Kaulder was easing his way down the cargo bay steps, sneaking up on no less than four people in the bay. Invading their minds was child’s play, making them see what she wanted was easy.

The trick, one she hadn’t been able to manage in her younger years, was to make all four of them see what they expected to see. In Dobson’s case, the young doctor surrendering to him. The Shepherd hoped for an amicable resolution to the conflict, while the doctor simply wanted to keep Dobson away from his blue box. The captain was a bit confusing. He apparently expected things to go dreadfully wrong, as bad as they could go, and it confounded her some.

But she could work with a worst-case scenario just as easily as she could a best case and the captain found himself held at gunpoint, trying to talk his way out of a bullet and then an arrest. His greatest fear was the innocent on his crew being hurt, little Kaylee taking a bullet with no one to help her.

Chloe nodded at Kaulder when he saw all four of the men in the cargo bay stop moving, their faces each showing a reaction to something completely different, something only they could see. With a slight effort, she pulled out of their minds and kept them in the dreams. “Dobson’s a fed. He’s here to recapture the Dreamer.” She said quietly. “He tried to send a wave to an Alliance vessel. The pilot scrambled it, so nothing really got through but a signal for pickup and with the gunhand’s working on the ship they likely wouldn't be found but it’s still chancy.”

Kaulder looked at her for a long moment. “I’ll leave it up to you what to do with him. But you know my opinion of anyone who'd try to turn that girl into a weapon.”

Chloe nodded and with a flick of her hand she was back in Dobson’s dream. Her expression twisted, and Dobson dropped to the deck like a marionette whose strings were cut. It was rare that she’d use her abilities the way the Witch Queen had intended, but sometimes it was called for. The rest of the men came out of their dreams with various reactions, Mal’s being the most violent, reaching for his gun and stuttering to a halt as he realized reality didn’t match what he recalled of the last few minutes.

By that time Kaulder had reached the blue box and was studying it with a look that said he was ready to just kick it open. “Kaulder, don’t,” Chloe shook her head, moving to his side. “You need to type in the sequence to stop the supply of drugs. She could go into shock otherwise.”

Kaulder simply nodded but the Captain squawked, “Say what now!” And the doctor began to protest opening the box at all. The Shepherd simply moved closer and touched the blue steel, nodding thoughtfully.

“It’s an older model but known for its stability.” He told them, ignoring the Captain and doctor. “On battery power, it can keep going for at least a week. Disconnect the battery and without power it’ll automatically begin the extraction cycle. The drugs will drain out of the person being carried and the locks will be released. I wouldn’t recommend kicking it open son,” Dark eyes narrowed on the Captain who was looking a bit blustery.

“You’re smuggling a person on my boat?” The tall suspender wearing man jabbed his Captainy finger in the doctor’s chest. “I don’t hold with slavery and I definitely don’t hold with slavery and smuggling on my boat.”

“Not unless it’s your own things being smuggled,” Chloe murmured with a wry smile.

The Shepherd flashed her a half grin and knelt down beside the cryo box, feeling for something along the bottom of it and nodding. Several firm movements of his hands resulted in a hissing click, rather like a pneumatic tube being released and he pulled a thick cylinder out of the side of the box. “Should take an hour or so for the drugs to cycle out. Then the lid will open automatically.”

Kaulder was looking at the box, “Safety precaution I’d guess?” He slanted a glance at the older man. “In case of a power loss, whoever was being carried wouldn’t suffocate?”

“Pretty much.” The Shepherd, who’d introduced himself earlier as Book, nodded. “Though I’ve seen them used in other ways.”

“Fine way to sneak aboard a vessel,” The first mate’s cool voice sounded from behind them. The doctor was the only one who started in surprise at her voice. The captain had clearly seen her and the other three had heard her steps on the deck. Chloe considered the Shepherd thoughtfully, she wouldn’t have pegged him for have that kind of situational awareness, some yes, but not on par with she and Kaulder. The surprise for all of them except the first mate and captain was Jayne’s silent menacing presence behind her. None of them had heard the gun hand though presumably the first mate knew he was there. Jayne’s hostile expression eased when he saw the two of them though his hands never did leave his weapon.

The captain was eying the doctor now, a bit more thoughtfully though with no less hostility, “That’s true. Put somebody in the box, pull the power source, and presto, someone to help hijack the ship if that’s what you’re after.”

“That’s not what I was doing,” The young man, barely more than a boy really, shook his head. “I just… I was just trying to get her out. And we shouldn’t take her out of cryo… They… they were very specific about that. We don’t know what she can do.”

Kaulder turned from his contemplation of the box and looked at him. “Yeah. We know. Why do you think we’re here?”

* * *

 

People never changed. They could suppress parts of themselves, make choices to reflect what they wanted to be, change their surroundings and the way they behaved, but at their core, they didn’t change. Not as a species, not individuals, not in all his time among them had he ever seen a person truly change.

That wasn’t to say that they couldn’t try damn hard. And wasn’t that the point? If someone wants to be a better person, they can’t change who they are, but they could change how they reacted to things, the choices they made. Even if, deep down, somebody knew they’ve done terrible things, that person could still stop and start doing good ones. It wouldn’t change what they’d done, but maybe they’d have a long enough life enough to balance things out.

He’d never bought into the whole ‘born evil’ stereotype the Axe and Cross loved to sell. Dolan Thirty-Six had been a good friend because he never bought into the ‘born bad’ bullshit either. Good and evil were just a matter of choices. You could want to do terrible things. You could have the urge every day to kill someone. That didn’t mean you gave into it. People could choose to do the right thing, instead of the thing they wanted to do. Even the worst sociopaths could make a choice. Being born without empathy didn’t mean they couldn’t follow the rules mankind had made. And if a sociopath could do it then a regular person could too. Everything was a choice. The only thing without a choice was being born. But nobody got that one.

But the one thing people didn’t have a choice in was that they had to be what they were. Choices, decisions and scenery aside, what you are doesn’t change. And the crew of this ship was a group of headstrong, intelligent and argumentative individuals.

The Doctor was flat out against taking his sister out of her box while the First Mate and Captain were wanting to know why she was in one in the first place. Book was just shaking his head and had quietly handed Chloe the battery. During the loud 'discussion' the Companion and the ship's mechanic had shown up. The only one missing was the pilot and he was presumably flying the boat. At least that’s where Kaulder hoped he was.

Kaulder tilted his head as he watched everyone clustered around the box arguing. The gun hand stiffened, his gaze going towards the air lock and he cursed. “ _Tā mā de niǎo_. We’ve got company Mal, and if we don’t move somewhere’s else they’re gonna stumble right over us.”

“Proximity?” Kaulder asked him thoughtfully.

“Yeah, I can feel ‘em. Long’s they ain’t lookin’ out the window they won’t see us. But our luck ain’t never been that good.” Jayne shook his head.

“What are you talkin’ about,” The Captain was obviously confused and irritated.

The irritation only spiked when the pilot’s voice came over the intercom. “Captain, we've been hailed by a Cruiser. Ordered to stay on course and dock for prisoner transfer.”

“Wash, how far out 're they?” Jayne moved quickly to the intercom with his question.

“Uh… they’re past visual range, we’re on the edge of their scanners I think. Transmission had a tinny quality to it, that’s usually a tell.” Wash’s voice replied, more than a touch confused.

“Then they’re transmittin’ blind,” Jayne shot Mal a grin. “We can run an’ they won’t have a clue where we are. Just gotta be where they ain’t gonna be. So someplace far from here.”

Reynolds plainly didn’t understand how Jayne knew that, but he did at least know when someone was telling the truth. His hand came down on the commlink, “Wash, go for hard burn, best you can do until we’re out of their range. Head for Whitehall.”

“Hang onto something,” Wash replied with a sort of grim cheer and the ship gave a slight shudder before slamming into hard burn. Kaylee turned from where she’d been standing in the doorway and ran towards the engine room.

Kaulder leaned against a handy crate and snugged Chloe against his side while they accelerated through space.

"What in th' gorram 'verse was that?" The Captain was staring at Jayne, "How'd you know?"

Jayne shrugged, shooting a look at Kaulder and Chloe where they stood, plainly wondering if they'd come up with a better explanation that he could. "I, uh..." He stumbled verbally for a moment before shrugging. " _Jiàn guǐ_ ," He began again, irritated and tired, "I—”

"He's a Witch, like me," Chloe interrupted the gunhand without a qualm. "And he did a working, so his magic wouldn't twist back around and hurt anyone while he was on the ship."

Her matter of fact tone combined with what everyone assumed was a Dyton accent so unlike theirs had everyone turning to stare at her and Kaulder laughed, shaking his head. "Never fails to amaze me how willfully blind humans can be."

"Witches..." Everyone who wasn't a Witch was staring at Chloe and Jayne in shock. Everyone except Zoe. The Shepherd, Doctor, Companion and Captain were flabbergasted and disbelieving. "Seriously?" The Captain managed to complete a sentence, to a point anyway, and shook his head.

Chloe shrugged, "We've been around since Earth That Was. Witches have been in existence as long as humans. Some even stayed behind when the humans left Earth. They thought they could heal the planet of the centuries of neglect."

"Even after the terraforming efforts on Mars and the Earth That Was moons failed?" Kaulder found it interesting that the Doctor had focused on that. Science was obviously easier for him to grasp than mysticism.

"That was science," Chloe shrugged. "Magic is based on the four elements, water, fire, earth and air. So long as all four still exist on Earth it could be healed. There wasn't much left of the cities except a few, and it was in pretty bad shape, but the elements were still there."

Jayne was looking at them in amazement, "Ya mean the whole world could be filled with Witches by now? Only Witches?"

"Not possible," Kaulder shook his head. "Just because two Witches have a kid it doesn't mean the kid is automatically a Witch." He and Chloe exchanged looks remembering the traitorous Dolan Thirty-Seven. "But any humans there are would be raised by Witches. To respect what they came from. Respect the Earth."

"Huh," Jayne was obviously considering that. "Still, must be nice, not havin' ta hide or nothin'."

"Yeah, speakin' of hiding," The Captain clearly was trying to regain control of the hijacked conversation. "Witches?"

"Legend has it that humans are the children of Adam and Eve," Kaulder shrugged. "Witches are the children of Adam and Lilith."

"Lilith?" The Captain’s voice was confused. "How'd you mean?"

"Some myths call her the Queen of Air and Darkness," Chloe smiled. "But according to some of the earliest stories, she was Adam's first wife, created from the same earth he was. And when she refused to be subservient to him she left the Garden of Eden. And Eve was created from Adam's rib."

"Makes sense in a way." Kaulder smirked, "I haven't met a Witch yet who didn't do things their own way, even ones that follow the law."

"Zoe?" Reynolds was looking at his first mate, incidentally the only non-Witch to not be shocked by all the revelations. "You got a take on this?"

The dark-skinned woman was almost preternaturally calm, "I suggest you take a deep breath sir. And get ready for the 'verse to change."

"Zoe?" Now the Captain had a bewildered sort of betrayed expression. He'd obviously expected her to be just as affronted and surprised as he was.

"Cap'n," She met his gaze without flinching.

"You don't seem all that surprised or disbelievin' 'bout all this." Reynolds pointed out with the air of someone expecting to be contradicted.

"No sir." Zoe shook her head. When the Captain just stared at her she shrugged, "Nothin' I haven't seen or heard before." After a moment she shrugged, "Well people being smuggled in a blue box is somethin' new."

"You don't think this's the sorta thing you might wanna make mention of?" The man demanded.

"Wasn't anything you could do," She was regarding the cryo box thoughtfully. "If I hadn't grown up with one I wouldn't have known either."

"Sibling? Or cousin?" Kaulder asked her curiously.

"My mother," Zoe half smiled. "My sister inherited the gift. They both have a strong affinity to air. Handy for folks born in space."

"It would be," Chloe nodded, her tone warm with appreciation. "A little working here and there and you've got better oxygen scrubbers."

"And conversion from carbon dioxide back to oxygen if an emergency comes up," The First Mate added. "There've been times I've wished I had the gift. But you can't be what you're not."

"No," Kaulder studied her thoughtfully as her words echoed his earlier thoughts. "You sure you don't have the gift?"

"Air doesn't move for me any more than the other elements," She shrugged. "Never really pushed to find out more."

"You and Chloe oughta talk," Kaulder looked at his woman. "Might be there's more to you than just elemental manipulation. That's basic magic after all. There are other gifts. Just because your folks didn't know about them doesn't mean they don't exist."

"And magic tends to run through lines, women or men." Chloe nodded. "It just doesn't always show up the same way."

Jayne nodded, "My line, magic tends ta skip 'round. But the fellas always end up with some sorta huntin' or trackin' type gift. An' the girls are a treat at healin' or makin' potions."

"Earth based magic," Kaulder explained.

"Well that's all well an' good," The Captain was getting a bit tetchy at being ignored. "But right now, I've got a girl bein' smuggled in a box, Feds on our tail and Witches? Alla that nothin' I had any notion of ten minutes ago and I generally like to know what's what on my own boat."

Kaulder shook his head, "What's going on—”

* * *

 

She could count on one hand the amount of times she'd seen Kaulder genuinely surprised by some turn of events. But the lid being pushed off the cryo box and a naked girl popping out of it with a blood curdling scream was definitely cause for shock. They'd all expected her to come out of cryo but not before an hour was done.

The wave of chilling images, white tiled rooms, steel tables and ominous chairs with needled coronas that washed over them with her scream confirmed that this was definitely a Dreamer. Chloe rushed forward along with the doctor and grabbed the girl's arm, pushing into her mind.

A frightened, no, make that terrified, Witch was scrambling away mentally, trying to run away in her own mind. "I'm not going to hurt you. I'm a Dreamer, like you." Chloe told her quickly, her magic forcing the other Witch's power to calm slightly. "Your brother got your message. He got you out. Kaulder and I are here to help you."

"They...they want to make me See." Dark eyes stared into hers. "I... I had to... And now..." Fear, pain and despair rolled over her in waves. "I... I can't control it... please!"

"You can," Chloe pressed a bit more, her magic a soft firm nudge in the right direction. "I'll help you. You've managed to control it all your life. You just need to remember how."

"I..." Images of scalpels, blood and needles flooded through them both. "They... they did something to me... surgeries..." Information seemed to cascade through their minds and Chloe struggled to grab even one idea, to understand what she was being given. "I... I feel everything."

" _Wǒ de mā_!" Chloe breathed the words aloud and felt Kaulder's hand on her arm, his presence at her back, pressing close. Solid and stable, a rock to cling to in the sea of information.

"Chloe, what is it?" His voice came from far away and she put her other hand over his, pulling his mind in with hers to show him what River was showing her. He'd always had a better mind for detail than she did. Centuries of practice without magic to fall back on had honed his skills.

"They... whatever they did... her emotions are wild..." Chloe told him. "Look."

She'd always been amazed at the way Kaulder could see things, the details he could pick up. She used to laugh and say he'd be a good cop, the way he could read a scene. And he'd smirk back at her and ask what she thought a Witch Hunter was.

Now he held tight to her hand and steadied her as the terrified Witch tried to show them what had been done, why she was having such trouble controlling her magic. "Look," Kaulder pointed to an image. "That chair. They've put her in that chair, with that halo of needles. Playing with her brain."

"I can't stop..." The anguished whisper said everything. "Please..."

"We'll help you," How Kaulder could sound so calm Chloe would never know. "But you need to help us. You just breathe and let Chloe calm your magic. She's a Dreamer, just like you are, so you just do what she does."

"Please... I'm so..."

"I know. It's everything all at once." Kaulder's voice was soothing, "Just let it wash through you. Like a flood... just let the waters go down on their own. Chloe'll keep your magic from getting through and messing with everyone else. I'll stay and help the both of you as long as you need me."

"It'll be all right," Chloe was able to say truthfully. "You're not the first Dreamer I've guided."

* * *

 

Chloe opened her eyes and jerked backwards as a pair of confused brown eyes were startlingly close to hers. "What are you doing?" She pulled away and felt Kaulder's arms come around her, steadying her and keeping her from falling backwards.

The Captain wasn't so fortunate, pulling back and stumbling over a corner of the blue box, falling on his rear. "Gah!"

Chloe found it hard to be sympathetic when she'd come out of River's nightmares to find the man staring at her like a germ under a microscope. The dark-haired Dreamer was shivering in the cool ship air, looking around with wide eyes. "Are you all right River?"

Wide nearly black eyes turned on her and Chloe was given a tremulous smile. "They're all thinking very loudly but you helped." She flinched as everyone realized what she'd said, and Chloe touched her hand, a reminder to shore up her defenses. "Thank you."

"Here," The Companion draped her outer robe around River's shoulders as Simon threw himself forward to hug his sister only to be stopped cold by Kaulder’s arm against his chest. Chloe realized that contrary to how it had felt in River's mind only a few minutes had passed.

"The mind moves faster than any machine, faster than time," River whispered. "Heartbeats last years. Like dreams."

Chloe nodded and helped the girl put on the Companion’s robe. “Take a moment or three, get yourself oriented. We’ll find you something warmer to wear.”

Kaulder rose from where he was kneeling, passing the doctor off to the Shepherd, and helped her to her feet and River after her. “Chloe, you and her look close to the same size. Pair of your pants and one of my sweaters with a tee-shirt under it will help warm her up.”

“She’s gonna need shoes,” Jayne spoke up from where he was standing. “Metal decks are cold.”

“I brought some of her things,” The doctor stuttered the words out. “In my trunk, the dark brown one, its…” He turned, searching the hold, “There.”

Chloe wrapped an arm around River’s waist to steady her and looked at the Captain. “And you need to back up.”

The tall man was getting to his feet and shaking his head, “What’n the name of all that’s holy is going on?”

“What’s going on is that you’ve got one more passenger to Boros,” Kaulder informed him as he and Jayne grabbed the trunk that should hold River’s things.

“Are you payin’ her fare? Because I can arrange for the lot of you to get off right here,” The Captain blustered back.

She sighed and rolled her eyes, keeping the diminutive Dreamer close, “Captain Reynolds, if you’re that concerned about her fare then we’ll pay it.”

“That ain’t the point,” He argued.

Chloe was vividly conscious of River’s trembling body, her face pressed into Chloe’s shoulder. “Then what is the point?” She spat the words out. “I’ve got a deeply traumatized Witch here. She’s exhausted and needs to sit down on something that isn’t a crate or a floor before she falls over.”

“Here,” The big gunhand was proving surprisingly gentle and scooped the slender Dreamer up in his arms. “Kaulder an’ Mal can bring the trunk an’ we’ll get you in the lounge on the couch.” He looked over at the Shepherd, “Shepherd, maybe you could uh, bring the Doc along?”

Chloe chuckled as the Captain was left standing in the cargo bay, Kaulder walking past him with the trunk while the priest and First Mate escorted the doctor up to the passengers’ lounge. The Companion murmured something about a hot water bottle and hurried in the opposite direction.

When she arrived in the lounge Jayne was dragging a knit throw off the back of the couch to tuck it around River’s bare feet while her brother hovered ineffectually. River kept eyeing the white infirmary with barely concealed unease until Jayne went into the room and switched the lights off.

“She thanks you, it is better,” River murmured to the huge man gratefully and took one of his hands with a sigh of relief. “You’re of the earth… soil, trees, trails and tracks… steady.”

“Dunno ‘bout steady,” Jayne shook his head but let her hang onto his hand. Chloe nodded approvingly. Anything that would help her stay calm was good. And the gunhand was a calming presence, like a good solid oak.

“Not your proclivities, though drinking and whoring are considered acceptable and manly pastimes by many levels of society, regardless of nomenclature,” River smiled. “Your nature. You’re… like rocks. Only if someone hits you, you don’t shatter. Like earth, a blow creates an impression, but time erases it eventually.”

The big blue-eyed man nodded his understanding as he finally puzzled through to her meaning, “Gotcha. Like them Zen gardens where ya rake sand ‘round boulders?”

“Very much like,” The diminutive Dreamer nodded.

Chloe chuckled as she opened the trunk and began to rifle through it for suitable clothing. Most of it didn’t look as if it would fit, River had grown since she’d left her parents house. “Shoes might still work but I don’t think any of the clothing’ll do.” She shrugged, as the Doctor sputtered an unintelligible protest. “She’s grown up some. Taller than the length of leg in those trousers and she’s filled out too.”

“I’ll grab some of your things,” Kaulder headed back towards their dorm and returned in a few moments with a pair of warm leggings and another tunic length sweater. “These should work.”

Chloe gave the men a pointed look until they turned their backs, Jayne actually pouting a bit but shutting his eyes, so River could keep her hand on his while she got the clothing on. The Companion returned with a hot water bottle and handed it to the tiny Witch while Chloe helped her get a pair of shoes on.

“She is decent for menfolk’s eyes,” River said quietly and immediately the gunhand’s eyes popped open.

“Smell like you’re a little better,” He remarked. “What’d you mean, when you said everything?”

“Everything?” She looked at him in puzzlement and then at Kaulder and Chloe.

“She didn’t say anything Jayne,” Reynolds shook his head.

“Heard her, plain as day,” Blue eyes were narrowing in thought. “She told you,” He nodded towards Chloe. “Told you she felt everything.”

“You heard her,” Kaulder folded his arms. “You’re sure your gift is only for hunting?”

“First time I ever heard anything someone didn’t say with their mouth,” Jayne shrugged.

Chloe exchanged a look with Kaulder and he nodded, “Yeah, we’ll have to talk a bit more about that later.” He suggested.

“They,” River’s voice was quiet. “They did surgeries on me. Experiments. They wanted to control my Dreams. Stripped my amygdale, made me Hear and See and Feel everything.”

“The people who helped me get her out,” The Doctor had regained his voice. “They said she was unstable, that she could be dangerous. Not to wake her until we were safely out on the Rim.”

“Unstable,” Reynolds looked at the four Witches with a frown. “But you woke her up.”

“Too damn right we did,” Kaulder snapped back. “Waiting wouldn’t have helped her. Why do you think we’re here?”

“Thought it was because you were going to Boros,” Zoe commented.

“We’re only here because this is the boat he picked,” Chloe nodded towards Simon. She gave her attention back to River, “So they wanted you to be able to Read what they wanted done out of their heads and obey them.”

“She postulates the theory that they hoped to use her as an assassin. Training reflects such ambitions,” River nodded. “Showed her off to the Parliament. Old men covered in blood and uncaring of whose it is.” Her voice rose hysterically as she spoke, and Jayne gave her hand a squeeze.

“Hey now, they ain’t here, an’ there ain’t one a us who’d hurt you,” He told her firmly. “I heard tell how your brother dropped everything and torched his life to get you out. An’ none of us hold with slavin’ or abusin’ kids.”

“Breathe,” Chloe reminded her. “Let it sink and then look at whatever’s been washed up with the waves.”

“I don’t know that it’s the best thing for her to be sitting in a chilly room trying to answer questions,” The Companion commented. “Some food and rest might help. Rest that doesn’t involve a cryo chamber.”

“It’ll help ground ya,” Jayne agreed and scooped her up, afghan and all. “We got some leftovers. Can heat ‘em up for ya easy enough.”

“Uh Jayne, just what do you think you’re doing?” The Captain’s voice was chilly and outraged both.

* * *

 

Kaulder rolled his eyes, “He’s helping her.” His tone added the implied addendum of ‘you _chǔn lǘ_ ’. “Unless you want her nightmares washing over you? Making you see things that aren’t there?”

He smirked as Chloe added, “Like I did earlier? Only she’d have less control.”

“There ain’t nothing happens on my boat that I don’t give the okay,” Reynolds insisted.

“Think we’re a little past that now sir,” The First Mate commented mildly from her position in the doorway. “And I think we’d all like to hear how everyone came to be here. We can listen to that while the girl’s having a meal.”

Full of piss and vinegar he might be, but Reynolds knew sense when heard it and seemed willing to hear it from his First Mate. “Fine, fine, everybody up to the galley.”

* * *

 

Kaulder leaned against the wall, keeping an eye on the room. The pilot and mechanic had joined them once they were out of the Alliance cruiser’s range. The mechanic had blinked at the sight of River and then blinked again as she took in the way the Witch was hanging onto Jayne’s hand. “Uh… don’t recall meetin’ ya when ya boarded,” She gave the other girl a smile. “Jayne?”

“She’s in the big blue box the doc brought on,” Jayne gave her the short version. “He’s hidin’ her, tryin’ ta get her out to the Rim where she’ll be safe.”

“Huh,” Kaylee sat down at the table on the pilot’s other side and he gave her a sympathetic look.

“We’re gonna hear a story,” Wash smiled as his wife took a seat on his other side.

“That we are,” Reynolds was less than thrilled and it showed in his voice.

Chloe rolled her eyes and Kaulder couldn’t help the smirk on his face. If Reynolds got too uppity she’d slap him down so hard he’d be walking backwards. It was a sight he was looking forward to, at least somewhat.

River’s brother stood in front of them and folded his hands nervously. “I… I’m very smart.” He began, and it wasn’t bragging, simply a statement of fact. “I graduated in the top three percent of my class at MedAcad, finished my internship in only eight months, and I’m only twenty-three.” He looked at them all sternly, “Gifted is the term most people use. So, when I tell you that my little sister makes me look like an idiot child I want you to understand my full meaning.”

Jayne grinned down at the girl who was eating tomato slices intently as if determined to enjoy every bit of them. “Yeah?”

“Yes,” Simon nodded. “I’m gifted but River… she’s a gift. There’s nothing that doesn’t come as easily to her as breathing does to the rest of us. Math, science, dance…” He smiled at his sister. “They keep trying to measure her intelligence and they can’t seem to manage it.”

“School was very boring,” River commented.

Her brother sighed, “She drove her teachers crazy. And she could be a total brat about it too. Always teasing me.” He shook his head, “Our parents were looking at schools, trying to find a place that would challenge her. We heard about a school, a government sponsored academy. She could have gone anywhere she wanted, we had the money.”

“Wanted to learn,” River said softly.

“And the place wasn’t as advertised I take it?” Zoe asked in her even tone.

“Not even a bit,” Simon shook his head. “I got a few letters at first. And then nothing for months. Finally, I got a letter that made no sense at all. It took me a while, but I figured out the code she’d put in it. In every letter after that one. It just said…”

“They’re hurting us,” River murmured. “Get me out.”

“It had already been almost two years,” Simon explained. “Our parents…didn’t believe me. They thought I just missed her, was inventing things to get her to come back, they suggested I was paranoid.”

“You didn’t know what they were doing to her,” Kaulder said when he paused for a moment to collect himself.

“I didn’t need to,” Simon shook his head. “I just knew she needed me to help her. I didn’t have to have any other reason.”

“So, what were they doin’?” Reynolds asked.

“The people who helped me get her out, they said the government was playing with her brain,” Simon shrugged. “But I didn’t know what that meant beyond experimentation which couldn’t be good.”

“Our people,” Chloe spoke into the silence. “As I said down in the bay, our people have been around as long as the Earth itself. Mostly we go unnoticed, hidden, another layer of reality under or around yours. Every now and then a human learns about us. Most of them keep their mouths shut, because hey, no one wants everyone else to think they’re crazy.”

“But sometimes, that person who finds out, decides to do something with the information,” Kaulder said grimly. “When that happens, nothing good comes of it. No matter how pure the intentions are when it begins.”

“That’s where we come in,” Chloe explained. “Kaulder, well,” She slanted a teasing glance at him. “Technically speaking he’s human. Though he’s fairly uncanny for a human.”

“He’s more than that,” Kaylee commented. “Practically sparks.”

“Well, as I said, he’s a bit uncanny,” Chloe smiled. “A long time ago there was an organization, based in religion. It was called the Axe and Cross.”

Jayne shook his head and made a sign with his free hand to ward off evil and Kaulder nodded his approval. “Can’t blame you for that Cobb,” He agreed. “The Axe and Cross began when the Witch Queen unleashed the Black Death. They managed to kill her, or at least bind her, for a couple hundred years or more.” He looked at Chloe, “They thought they’d killed her. But she cursed the man who put a sword through her heart. ‘Everyone you love is gone. I've seen it in your eyes. You wish for death. Today we both die. I curse you with life. To never know peace. To walk the Earth alone for eternity. You will never die.’”

He shrugged and looked at the crew and other passengers again, “But she’d tied her heart to one of the men who came to destroy her. A curse, more or less, that he would live as long as her heart did. To destroy her heart was to kill him.”

Chloe took up the tale, “Witches live among us in secret. Their magic passed down from an ancient race, diluted, half-forgotten, but dangerously powerful. After centuries of conflict, a truce was forged. Witches would be allowed to live and govern themselves if they followed one strict rule, that magic never be used against humans. But a truce is a fragile thing. There were some who longed for the return of the old ways, the dark days of the Witch Queen.” She shook her head, “The Axe and Cross called him The Weapon,” Chloe’s mouth twisted in distaste. “And for eight hundred years they sent him all over the world to hunt Witches who were breaking the law. Or playing with powers they didn’t understand.”

Kaulder explained, “The Weapon became known to Witches as the Witch Hunter. But he didn’t just hunt Witches. He kept them from getting themselves killed playing with dangerous artifacts, found them teachers, but he was still feared because he was the long arm of the law. The law they’d agreed to be bound by.”

“In the early twenty first century a group tried to bring the Witch Queen back,” Chloe shook her head. “Back in her heyday she had an army. And a battalion of what other Witches called her Assassins. Dream Walkers.”

“Like you,” Reynolds realized.

“Mostly like me,” Chloe nodded. “Dream Walkers are some of the most dangerous Witches because they can enter your dreams, enter your mind, awake or asleep, and make you see whatever they want you to see. They can enter your mind, awake or asleep, find your memories and twist them. Make them sweeter or turn them into your worst nightmares. They can kill you in your dreams. And you won’t ever know how you died.”

“I thought they were just myths,” Zoe murmured. “Scary stories to frighten kids into behaving with their gifts.”

“The Last Witch Hunter and a Dream Walker teamed up and took on the Witch Queen back when they tried to bring her back,” Kaulder took up the tale again. “They won. And the Axe and Cross was no more.”

“Guess you two are sorta their descendants?” Reynolds asked curiously.

Kaulder shrugged, “You could say that. I’m a Witch Hunter. But my concern isn’t policing what Witches do. It’s more making sure they aren’t getting in over their heads. Or using magic too obviously. It’s rare that someone actually needs killing. The Axe and Cross doesn’t officially exist anymore, and we don’t feel the need to kill or imprison people for little things like making illusions for a magic show or making a potion to ease a dying man’s last breath.”

“Mostly people require teaching,” Chloe explained. “A lot of knowledge was lost when Witches left the Earth along with humans. We have…an abundance of knowledge to share.”

“Finds the ones that need training, the ones that need help, teach them not to hurt themselves, not to hurt others,” River murmured. “Take care of the Witches and make sure that Humans don’t try to hurt them.”

“Which is how we came to be involved with River and the Academy,” Kaulder nodded. “We’d heard rumors that the government was experimenting on Witches. Started to look into it.”

“River was the last one of their ‘subjects’,” Chloe uttered the term in distaste.

“That is…amazing,” Book said thoughtfully.

“Quite a stirring tale,” Reynolds was frowning. “But I ain’t seeing how it gives you the right to endanger me and mine by bringing it on my boat.”

“I didn’t think…” Simon’s voice faded off, worry twisting his mouth.

“No, I don't imagine you thought,” The Captain shook his head. “In consequence of which we got a dead federal officer on board, we got the Alliance looking for us and that makes life just a little more interesting than I generally like.”

“What d’ya wanna do, put ‘em off in the middle a the black?” Jayne asked sarcastically. “They’re here. Paid for passage to Boros and everythin’.”

“It’s crossed my mind,” Reynolds shook his head and held up his hands at the instant hullabaloo that resulted from his comment.

Kaulder leaned back against the wall and exchanged exasperated looks with Chloe while the Captain tried to get a word in.

“ _Měi rén bì zuǐ_!” Reynolds finally bellowed. “Enough already. Way it is, is the way it is. We got to deal with what's in front of us.”

“We’ve still got goods burning a hole in our hull,” Zoe reminded him quietly. “So, what do we do?”

“The job,” The Captain shook his head. “We do the job. We’re headed to Whitehall. Then Boros. I’d take it as a kindness if you would keep anymore witchy business to yourselves until then.”

Jayne scowled and looked down at the diminutive girl who was still hanging onto his hand but didn’t say anything regarding the Captain’s orders.

* * *

 

Despite what the Captain had said in his ‘welcome aboard’ speech everyone had stayed in the galley. Jayne was still sitting with River at his side, encouraging her to eat a bit more and drink some tea. Kaulder moved from his position against the wall to another near the hallway leading to the bridge.

Jayne frowned and looked up, something outside of the ship tugging at his senses. River put her tea down and placed her hand over his. “He feels them,” She murmured.

“Feels who?” Chloe asked curiously.

Kaulder tilted his head, hearing part of the conversation on the bridge, “…a lot of radiation...they're operating without core containment. Well, that's _diān dǎo_ , that's suicide...” The pilot’s voice trailed off and the Captain’s spoke grimly.

“Reavers.”

River turned sharply at the sound of the word and looked up in the same direction as Jayne. “They never rest. They never lie down. They cannot stop. They cannot sleep.” Her eyes were almost glowing.

Simon and Book were staring in shock while Chloe hurried to River’s side. “Breathe, remember? Don’t try to control it, let it ebb away.”

Jayne stared up at the ceiling, frowning fiercely before looking down at River, “How much magic you know _diān dǎo jùn jié_ girl?”

River shook her head, breathing steadily, her eyes fading, “Only what I’ve read.” She looked up at Jayne, “Wants to do a working on the Reavers. On their engines.”

“They fly without containment,” Kaulder commented. “’Tween Chloe and you two, should be able to figure something out that’ll blow their engines.”

“I’ll grab my book,” Chloe ran out of the room and he heard her feet on the metal stairs.

The Captain’s voice came over the speakers as Kaulder sat and held out his hand for River to take. “This is the captain. We're passing another ship. Looks to be Reavers. From the size, probably a raiding party. Could be they're headed somewhere particular, could be they've already hit someone and they're full up. So, everyone stay calm. We try to run, they'll have to chase us. It's their way. We're holding course. We should be passing 'em in a minute, so we'll see what they do.” There was a brief pause and he spoke once more, “Zoe, you come up to the bridge.”

The First mate came from the stairs back by the engine room, walking steadily towards the bridge and Kaulder nodded to her as she passed. She barely acknowledge the five of them sitting around the table and since Chloe came hurrying back in on her heels Kaulder didn’t have much time for her either.

“Wait, I don’t understand," Simon looked around the table at them. “What is the Captain talking about?”

“You never heard of Reavers?” Jayne was looking at the other man as if he’d lost his mind.

“Stories… Men gone savage on the edge of space, killing, and—”

Kaulder interrupted him, “They’re not stories.”

“What…what would happen…” River’s brother couldn’t seem to get the words out.

River spoke, her words and voice unlike her own, “If they take the ship, they'll rape us to death, eat our flesh and sew our skins into their clothing and if we're very very lucky, they'll do it in that order.”

Chloe took a seat and put the book on the table in front of them, “Well let’s make sure it doesn’t come to that

Kaulder reached forward and began to flip through it, “Saw something in here. A technomage in the twenty third century… developed a way to power engines with magic.”

“Oh, yeah,” Chloe took the book and quickly found the right page. “Problem was it took too much power to do it. No single Witch could pull it off. It had to be a coven and they didn’t have many of those then.”

River had managed to calm down enough that her eyes were their normal color again, “Use the Reavers.” She suggested.

“Use the…” Jayne blinked. “You’re serious… they’re…”

“They’re Witches,” Chloe breathed the words out in shock. “But…what happened—”

“Immediate threat now, exploration and explanations later,” Kaulder reminded her and she nodded.

“Right.”

* * *

 

Chloe took a deep breath and linked her hands with Kaulder and River. “We’re ready?”

“As I’ll ever be,” Jayne was nervous but determined.

Simon looked over at Book who’d stationed himself at one door while Simon was at the other, “We’ll try to keep the others from disturbing you.” She could tell he really wasn’t sure what they were doing but their belief wasn’t something he could argue with.

“Right,” Chloe looked at the other two Witches. “It’s deceptively simple. Just…don’t stop until you feel the engines react. Once the hex takes it’ll happen fairly quickly. Then we let go.”

“And Kaulder is the constant,” River murmured. “To ground the lightning.”

“Right,” Kaulder gave her a smile and Chloe remembered the first time she’d done this, led a circle. He’d been there too, making sure she didn’t get in over her head, grounding her.

She looked at the other two and took a deep breath, “Remember, it’s fueled with our magic and intent. The words are…more of a mnemonic to help you concentrate.”

Jayne looked confused until River’s hand tightened on his, “Words that remind you of things. Say apple think of pie. Helps put the brain in the right space.”

The big Witch nodded and took a deep breath, “Whenever yer ready then.”

Chloe nodded and closed her eyes, breathing out the words of the hex and letting them flow into Jayne, River, and Kaulder’s minds to help them speak. When they echoed back she knew it was time to push power into the hex.

The ancient language, based not in Latin or Greek but an older earlier language formed during the birth of the world, washed over them like waves, gathering strength, until the waves were more like a waterspout rising from ancient seas. She opened her eyes, saw River’s glowing hot amber back at her, Jayne’s an electric blue and knew her own were blazing green while Kaulder’s remained his same deep brown, as River had predicted, grounding them.

She could hear a scuffle, a far away disturbance and words, empty and meaningless as they continued the chant. The hex was growing, full and ready to burst, almost alive and wanting to fulfill its purpose. A moment more, another round of chanting, power circling through them and the hex reached its pinnacle, magic flowing through them, twisting and spiraling up and away from _Serenity_.

River could follow it mentally, thanks to what the Academy had done, and joined as they were, the other three could see it as well.

Like a spiral spear the hex slammed into the Reaver ship and unerringly targeted its engines. Without containment, without any sort of maintenance, the ship’s engines burst like an unhealthy heart beating too fast. The sound, being out in the Black, was inaudible but the astonished curse coming from the bridge wasn’t.

Chloe looked at the other two Witches and Kaulder, “What’s that old song? Don’t Fear the Reaper?” She asked a bit dizzily.

River giggled, punch drunk, and leaned against Jayne while the gunhand chortled, in the same condition as the women. Kaulder was shaking his head as if to clear it but in slightly better shape than the rest of them simply because he’d only been helping channel and ground the hex, not fueling it.

“What’n the gorram hell’s goin’ on?” Captain Reynold’s voice, strident and irritated along with a heavy dollop of fear was like a slap in the face. “What’re you four doin’?”

Chloe blinked and concentrated on shaking off the tipsiness that always hit her after a major working before she tried to answer, “We were…” She looked helplessly at her partners in crime when words failed her.

“Eliminating the threat,” River’s genius brain was serving her well. A nice succinct but complete answer.

The Captain appeared ready to explode, similar to the Reaver boat, when the pilot appeared in the doorway, his face pale and eyes wide. “Uh Mal, the Reaver ship…it just exploded.”

“ _Wǒ cào_ ,” Reynolds blinked at him. “No joke?”

“Serious as taxes,” Wash nodded. His wife came up behind him, a solid presence that gave him some reassurance. “Just up and blew.”

“He’s right sir,” Zoe nodded. “Shrapnel and debris won’t be a problem for us, not as far out as they were.” She added forestalling her Captain’s next question.

Reynolds’ turned back to the four people at the table, hands still joined, “Eliminating the threat huh?”

“Accurate summation of events,” River offered. “If brief.” Her eyes went to her brother with a newly blooming bruise on his jaw. Apparently the Captain had hit him trying to get past the doctor to the Witches doing their working.

“You made the Reavers explode?” Zoe put it together before her husband though that might have been because she grew up with Witches and was aware of the possibilities.

“Overloaded their engines,” Jayne gave her the gist. “Took all of us to do it though.”

“Wasn’t easy,” Chloe agreed. “But with more of us and practice, it might get easier.”

Reynolds pulled out a chair at the head of the table and sat, looking at them, “Start at the beginning, go on until you get to the end, and then stop.”

“How to tell a tale one oh one,” River murmured, and Chloe couldn’t help the giggles that burst out of her mouth again.

* * *

 

Kaulder carefully pried his hand out of Jayne’s grasp and gently slipped it out of Chloe’s, rising and grabbing coffee and mugs for all three of the Witches. Adding three ration packs to his haul he brought it back to the table, “You three eat, have some coffee, that’ll ease that drunk feeling you got going.” He advised as he poured coffee into the mugs and put the packs in front of them.

Jayne needed no encouraging, gulping the coffee down despite the temperature and tearing open the ration pack. He did trade with River when he saw her having trouble getting hers open with trembling fingers. “Drink some coffee _ān ān_ , that’ll help.”

“Not a little girl,” River mumbled rebelliously though she did take a big sip of her coffee before popping ration chips in her mouth.

“Been through this before I guess,” Reynolds speared Jayne with a sharp glance.

“Yeah, feel a little tipsy every time I do my workin’ when I come back on the boat,” Jayne nodded. “Even I cain’t get so drunk I’m still feelin’ it after twelve hours gone Mal.”

“What is that exactly,” Zoe asked taking a seat to Reynold’s left. “You mentioned that before down in the bay.”

Jayne grumbled but paused devouring the ration pack to answer, “I can do magic, most sorts, ain’t many Witches that cain’t. But my gift, it’s hunting, tracking, it ends in blood or sex. That’s just how my line is.” He shrugged, “On the boat, ain’t much for me to hunt if we ain’t been boarded an’ I cain’t sex you or Kaylee, but I gotta use my gift or it rides me.”

“Go berserker if you can’t,” Kaulder asked mildly and Jayne nodded.

“Yeah, mostly just… really spoilin’ for a fight or a woman, tend to get downright nasty about it.” The gunhand admitted. “Figured it out when I first started sailin’ the Black. Had to do somethin’ to keep from hurtin’ the crew I’s with. So, I paid for a workin’. Takes my gift an’ twists it, helps the boat hide, keeps people from huntin’ it.”

Zoe was looking at him with interest, “That’s why we’ve been able to avoid Alliance as much as we have?”

Jayne shrugged, “Don’t help much if they’re just stumblin’ on us, we’re just a little harder ta see. But if they’re lookin’ for us specific, then yeah. They’ll have a devil of a time findin’ _Serenity_.”

“Huh,” Reynolds looked at the two girls. “So that’s why the giggles then, ya’ll got drunk on whatever you did.”

“Sorta,” Chloe nodded. “It doesn’t happen to me much anymore. I’ve been doing this a long time. But it’s rare that I lead a coven, even a small circle, and that’s a different animal than my usual.”

“So exactly what were you doin’,” The Captain asked and held up a hand. “And don’t tell me you were ‘eliminating a threat’ or other such vagaries.”

“River told us the Reavers were Witches,” Kaulder commented. “Which is a whole other story we’ll get into later. But Jayne had the idea to do a working on their engines, since they operate without containment.”

“And the four of you blew ‘em outa the sky,” Reynolds expression was a mix of awe and fear.

Chloe shook her head, “It wasn’t quite so easy as you seem to think.”

“Took all of us, and Kaulder as the ground,” River agreed as she sipped coffee. Her brother had gotten up from the floor and was quietly making tea for he and the Shepherd which seemed to reassure her somewhat that he was all right.

“The ground,” Now Reynolds’ face had confusion added to the mix. It would have been comical if it wasn’t so dangerous.

“Means he held us, anchored us, so we wouldn’t get lost in the working,” Jayne told the man. “Makes a big difference. Can get real chaotic elsewise.”

“Huh,” Reynolds looked at River. “And Reavers are Witches. How’s it you know that?”

Kaulder glanced at River and saw her hand fumble for Jayne’s again. Contrary to what his crew seemed to think of him, the big gunhand did have a heart because he didn’t argue his free hand being taken over by River’s grip. “Her rock, her ground,” She explained, sort of, to the Captain.

“It’s that bad?”

River didn’t dignify Reynold’s question with a response, taking a deep breath. “Chloe… need to… not…”

“I’ll help,” Chloe nodded. She looked at the Captain. “It’ll be easier to show you than tell it. You might want to get your whole crew here, so we don’t have to go through it again.”

Zoe nodded and stood, “I’ll get Wash and Kaylee.” She strode purposefully out of the room, Simon and Book taking seats at the table with their tea.

“Need some ice for that jaw Doc,” Jayne commented. “Cold packs in the chill storage, over there.” He gestured at the lockers marked with an ice cube.

“It’s just a bruise,” Simon shrugged. “Cold packs aren’t cheap. Save them for sprains, when you really need them.” Book patted his shoulder approvingly and Simon took a sip of his tea.

Kaylee came wandering into the galley after a moment and made herself a mug before taking a seat and shortly thereafter Wash and Zoe appeared. Inara exited her shuttle and took a seat beside the mechanic, her expression serene as always.

“Now that we’re all here like you asked,” Reynolds looked meaningfully at River.

“They will see…what she saw, when she saw it…” She looked around the table. “How Reavers came to be.” Tears dripped slowly down her face even as she took a deep breath and Chloe reached across the table for her other hand.

“We’re here with you River, you aren’t alone in this. Not ever again.” Chloe promised.

Kaulder braced himself mentally guessing what they were about to see was truly horrible.

* * *

 

It began slowly, the wood table turned to silver metal and the lockers on the walls an icy tiled white. River seemed farther away, sitting at a table in a simple gown, a deck of tarot cards before her. Across from her stood a group of distinguished men, fine suits, sashes of office and medals on their chests. River’s voice was soft, murmuring over the cards as she laid out a tree of them.

“Parliament… they were concerned. The growing unrest from the outer planets was extending to the Border. The Rim was becoming uncontrolled,” River looked up from her cards, her eyes scanning the crew. “There was a movement, increasing in strength, calling for Independence from the Alliance. All worlds created equal. All voices to be heard at the same volume. Free to go their own way.”

She looked down and put a card crossways over another, studying it before she spoke again, “Parliament determined that a way must be found to pacify the unrest.” She shivered and looked away from the dignified men, away from the crew and the walls opened to a beautiful vista of parks and elegant buildings, a Core world from the looks of it.

Kaulder frowned as the clothing the men wore began to darken, tinting black red until drops fell from their hands to the shiny white floors with every word from River’s lips.

“This world was chosen. Prospero’s daughter, isolated with only Caliban as her moon, in Burnham.” Her voice heavy with mourning River continued, “Test subject.” One by one the people populating the streets began to slow and then stop. Each of them simply lay down, as if their will to move, to live, had been sapped away.

“Witches make up a tenth of the ‘Verse’s population,” River said softly. “Before Miranda, Parliament believed them to be only rumors. Myths, legends brought from Earth That Was. Fairytales of women who live in candy houses and bake children in the oven.” The world beyond her began to die, fires breaking out, buildings crumbling in some places, but through it all, no one moved to save themselves.

The Dream Walker’s voice changed, sounding unlike herself, “It's the Pax, the G-32 Paxilon Hydroclorate that we added to the air processors. It's...” Her voice caught, “Well it works... it was supposed to calm the population, weed out aggression. Make a peaceful... it worked. The people here stopped fighting. And then they stopped everything else. They stopped going to work, stopped breeding... talking... eating...” She seemed to strain for control, “There's thirty million people here and they all just let themselves die.”

The vision of the world shifted to show images from all over the planet, each of them more grisly and disturbing than the last. River’s voice had her own cadence again as she said quietly, “Thirty million people, with ten percent of them Witches, ten percent of thirty million is three million.”

Then there was movement on the dead world, screaming, thrashing, rage filled running and tearing. Faces slashed and pierced, skin torn, blood covering them like death masks. River’s voice took up that strained tearful sound, “There are people... they're not people... about a tenth of a percent of the population had the opposite reaction to the Pax. Their aggressor response increased... beyond madness. They've become... they've killed most of us... not just killed, they've done... things…”

Kaulder was unable to look away as it became apparent whose voice River was speaking with, a dark-haired woman in a scientist’s tunic and coat, firing a gun before putting it to her temple, only to be too late. Reavers swarmed her and the vision faded mercifully.

The white walls of the room River showed them grew hard and shiny again as a doctor came forward to shake the bloody hands of the gentlemen with a proud smile on his face. “The transmission came on closed channels, private, for the Parliaments eyes only, for special tasks group only, and was buried. The war for Independence began not long after, the method for pacifying the population deemed a failure.”

She looked at them from a steel chair, a corona of needles in her skull, restraints on her feet and wrists. “Further research deemed necessary to determine why ten percent of the population had such a reaction. And Parliament learned that Witches exist.”

“ _Tài kōng suǒ yǒu de xīng qiú sāi jǐn wǒ de pì gu_ ,” Wash’s voice was shocked.

Mercifully River withdrew from their minds and they were blinking in the warm soft light of the galley. Chloe took a deep breath and looked at Kaulder.

“Yeah,” He nodded. “It’s a lot worse than we thought.”

* * *

 

Chloe had rarely felt so murderous as she did now. When the Witch Queen had tried to kill Kaulder, made him mortal again and she’d decided a Witch should be able to hunt Witches. When Dolan Thirty-Seven had betrayed them. When she’d learned humanity had run the Earth to ruin.

Kaulder’s eyes were gleaming with a particularly militant light. “Well?” He looked at her, “I’ve done the math. We have the time.”

Chloe nearly smiled as she recalled him saying something similar to the Witch Queen. “Yes, I think the situation definitely calls for Iron and Fire.” She agreed.

“Iron and Fire,” Jayne echoed. At some point during the waking dream he’d pulled River into his lap and had banded his arms around her protectively. She had her face pressed to his neck and seemed to be breathing with him. “That don’t sound good.”

“Iron and Fire is what kills a Witch,” Kaulder explained to the rest of the crew. “It’s what the Axe and Cross used to say.”

“Of course, we’ve found that it works just as well on humans who’ve overstepped themselves,” Chloe added wickedly.

“Yeah, uh, you wanna explain exactly what you’re gonna do?” Reynolds seemed to be wavering between disbelief, outrage and disgust and his face finally settled on a mix of the three.

“We’re going to fuckin’ war,” Chloe told him. “I’ve lost one home because of humans. I’m not losing another.” Kaulder nodded beside her and she squeezed his hand gratefully as she continued, “Get us to Boros and you won’t have to concern yourself with it.”

Kaylee was looking shocked, her hand clasped in Inara’s as the Companion attempted to comfort her. “How could they do it?”

Wash was still reeling from what they’d seen, “Reavers…they made them.”

“They did,” River looked at them from the safety of Jayne’s big arms. “Believed they could make people better. Control them. Make a world without sin.”

“I don’t hold to that,” Jayne practically growled.

“No such thing,” Chloe nearly smiled as she agreed with him. She looked at River and Simon, “You two are welcome to come with us. But it might be safer if you split up.”

“Safer if Simon goes home,” River murmured. “Tell the parents the girl truly had gone mad. Escaped. He is penitent and sorrowful. Favored son. He would be forgiven.”

“ _Cào nà_ ,” Simon’s vulgar response to that suggestion shocked everyone. “I’ll be damned if I’ll go crawling back to the people who would have just abandoned you because it might look scandalous to make a fuss about their missing child.” He shook his head, “I’ll stay on Boros, find work as a doctor. Or keep moving, services for passage, but I won’t go back to them.”

Chloe grinned and was surprised to see the big gunhand doing the same, “Guess you ain’t nearly so lily livered as I’s thinkin’ ya were Doc.” Jayne pulled River’s cup of coffee closer to her, so she could drink it.

“Not to interrupt this touching moment,” Reynolds did just that. “But what does ‘going to war’ mean?”

“Means we’re gonna find the _gǒu niáng yǎng de_ who did this and make him die in his sleep,” Chloe smiled, and she knew it wasn’t a pleasant expression. “Then we’re going to find a way to either reverse the effects of the Pax or put the victims out of their misery.”

She looked at River and could almost hear the genius’s thoughts moving, working on that problem. “Wait a while before you try to suss that out River. You’re still on shaky ground from the work you’ve already done.”

“I’m goin’ with you,” Jayne announced flatly.

“Uh, excuse me?” Reynolds tried to interrupt but Jayne just rolled right over him.

“You need to track these _hún dàns_ ,” He told Chloe and Kaulder. “Ain’t no one can touch me for trackin’. Need be, we can pull my cousins or brothers in. An’ I got sisters can do doctorin’ if the Doc needs to be elsewhere’s.”

Chloe looked at Kaulder, “He could be useful.”

“And he is her stone,” That River had over exerted herself was evident in her speech. “Keeps her grounded, better than Kaulder even.”

“I don’t mind if you don’t,” Chloe told her partner with a grin.

“Hell, I don’t mind. Another sword arm’s always welcome,” Kaulder smirked. “It’s an expression,” He told the gun hand. “Like having another gun.” Jayne’s slightly muddled face cleared.

“Got a ship on Boros?” He asked without skipping a beat.

“Let’s say we’ve got access,” Chloe smirked slightly.

* * *

 

“Right,” Chloe looked at River and Jayne.  The two Witches were sitting side by side.  Jayne’s willingness to let River hang on him without getting anything in return had apparently disturbed Reynolds idea of the natural order of things.  So much so that he’d been asked to leave the room as he continually prevented them from actually discussing what needed to be discussed. 

Zoe, thankfully, didn’t seem nearly as perturbed and Kaylee thought it was ‘cute as the dickens’.  That bothered Jayne but Kaulder guessed it was because he really didn’t like anything in conjunction with himself being called cute.  Simon wasn’t thrilled with it but so long as Jayne behaved himself he would live with it and the Shepherd didn’t know the individuals concerned well enough to have an opinion.  Wash simply shook his head and patted Jayne’s back advising him to listen before he spoke whenever there was a woman involved, regardless of the relationship.

“That’s good advice for anyone,” Kaulder had grinned as the pilot headed back to the bridge.

“Yeah, so how’s it I can hear what she’s sayin’ in my head?” Jayne got right to the crux of the matter.

“River calls you her stone,” Kaulder looked at Chloe.  “It’s rare as hell, but it isn’t impossible.”

“You’d have seen it more than I have, but if you’re right…” Chloe was nodding thoughtfully.

“Ya wanna spit it out an’ let us in on the secret?” Jayne rolled his eyes.

River patted his hand and smiled at him, “They refer to a mental bond, developed when a Dreamer, Dream Walker, suffers trauma.  Links to a strong stable mind for help, to brace against.  You are the stone, like the earth.  Absorbing impact but unchanging but for the surface.”

“Huh,” Jayne shrugged. “Okay.”

“You’re not bothered by that?” Zoe had been slightly skeptical.

“Hell it’s what she needs, ain’t hurtin’ me none,” The big gunhand had shaken his head. “An’ I got twin sisters, can do the same thing, just figured it was ‘cause they’re twins.”

“Probably is,” River murmured.  “Precedent says that the bond can be dissolved when the Dreamer is healthy enough.  Or maintained if desired.”

“Well let’s see how it goes,” Jayne suggested. “Don’t guess anyone’s ever done to a Dreamer what’s been done to you.  Ain’t like I mind.  Don’t hurt or nothin’.”

“Right,” Zoe was looking at the gunhand strangely and Kaulder got the impression that she was expecting a lot more fuss and irritation from him.  He wondered just how much of a selfish, scary, greedy merc the big Witch had been acting like and how much was a mask or brought on by being unable to practice his gift out in the Black.

Jayne smirked slightly at the group of curious individuals.  “Ain’t none o’ ya really knows me.  ‘Cept this one,” He looked at River with a fond smile. “Guess her seein’ right into my head gives her some sorta insight.”

“Literally,” River giggled softly.

“Smart ass,” The gunhand chuckled and Simon snorted out a laugh.

“Get used to it,” The Doctor advised with a half grin.

“Yeah,” Jayne shook his head and looked at Zoe.  “Just sayin’ I ain’t at my best when I got nothin’ ta do.  Gotta make a livin’, but bein’ in the Black… don’t suit my gifts much.”

Kaylee was the one who got it, “Like if I was sailin’ a boat never needed no work or nothin’, I’d be bored an’ get all fidgety an’ the like.”

“Yeah,” He nodded.  “Only I get grumpy an’ bored an’ needin’ somethin’ ta do so I’m arguin’ or workin’ out or somethin’.  Arguments, kinda like fightin’, blows off a little steam.”

Zoe nodded slowly, “Wish you’d said somethin’ before.  Mighta had some ideas of how to help.” 

Jayne shrugged, “Water under the bridge I guess.  Ain’t nothin’ ta be done ‘bout it now.”

 

* * *

 

Kaulder shook his head as the captain, Zoe and Jayne came back on the boat slightly worse for the wear. Jayne’s upper thigh was blooming red, Zoe walked as if she’d taken a cannonball to the ribs and Mal’s shoulder was bleeding. “Guess you all get to avail yourselves of Simon’s expertise,” He commented from the weight bench where he was spotting Simon.

The rather sweaty doctor sat up and took a good look at them, “Let me make sure I’m sterile and I’ll see to the three of you. Don’t sit on the exam table please, it’s sterile and you’re not. If I have to operate let’s not waste time doing things twice.” He gave Kaulder a nod of appreciation and hurried away, presumably wash up and change into something more medically appropriate.

“So, what happened?” Kaulder asked as he moved forward to help Jayne limp towards the infirmary.

“Patience is a greedy _jiàn huò_ is what happened,” Jayne grumbled.

“Tried to take the goods without payin’,” Zoe explained, her voice wheezing slightly.

“Again,” Reynolds added grimly. He stopped at the intercom and cargo bay controls and shut the doors before hitting the comm button and telling Wash to take off for Boros.

The ship began to move almost immediately after.

* * *

 

“You sure,” Reynolds was asking Jayne. “No guarantee we won’t have another hand if you wanted to come back.”

“I’m sure,” Jayne nodded. “Chloe an’ me an’ River, we did the workin’ on _Serenity_ so she’s gonna stay hid like I useta do for her. But they need me more’n you do Mal.”

Kaulder was having a similar conversation with Simon, “Don’t know when we’ll be able to send waves or post.” He warned the (much) younger man. “We’ll try but it won’t be constant.”

“As long as you promise to keep her safe.” Simon had accepted Reynold’s offer of being the ship’s doctor. Apparently the crew got shot up often enough that his services would be necessary. “When I do get waves and letters I’ll have the satisfaction of knowing that. If she’s safe she has a chance to be happy. And she wanted to learn. I imagine with you, Jayne and Chloe teaching her she’ll have plenty of that.”

River hugged her brother tightly, “Will wave you. And send letters. Without codes.”

“You had better,” Simon hugged her back and kissed the top of her head. “And if Jayne gets any ideas I expect him to wave and ask permission to court you.”

Kaulder laughed as both River and Jayne blushed. “I’ll keep an eye on them Simon, don’t worry. Me an’ Chloe’ll stand _in loco parentis_.”

That made Simon laugh even as River and Jayne turned a deeper red. “I’ll count on you,” The Doctor grinned.

Kaulder picked up his and Chloe’s bags and loaded them onto the mule. Reynolds had agreed to let Wash shuttle them over to the ship they had waiting on them. Jayne had looked relieved and when he’d begun dismantling the weight bench Kaulder had understood why.

“You’ll be able to set up in the bay,” He assured the gun hand. “Appreciate it if you’d let us have the use of it too.”

Jayne had nodded, smirking, “We can just figure its part o’ me rentin’ floorspace.” He joked as he put the weights in their case and muscled it onto the mule.

The Witch Hunter looked over at Reynolds and noted that the man still seemed half disbelieving that Jayne was going. Zoe and Wash were more accepting, and if he read her right, Zoe seemed slightly relieved. Kaylee hugged the big man and admonished him about waving them.

“Hell Kaylee, I’ll be checkin’ in with ya, don’ worry,” Jayne tried to reassure her. The mechanic was still get a bit weepy looking and Jayne cast a desperate look at Chloe and Kaulder.

Kaulder looked at the First Mate thoughtfully, "We'll wave you with some information, you got some sort of gift, I can feel it.  Might just take a little bit of figuring out is all."

Zoe had shrugged, "I've gone this long without it.  Be good to know, good to practice but I'm in no rush."

He'd smiled, "I've seen Witches with the power of air form shields by rearranging the molecules in front them.  Like solidifying oxygen.  Might be handy in a gunfight."

That had gotten the stoic woman to crack a smile, "That it would.  I'll look for your wave." 

Kaulder nodded and looked over at his woman. "We all set?"

Chloe laughed and shook her head, “C’mon Jayne, let’s get going before the boat leaves without us.”

Simon gave River one last hug and waved as they began to walk out of _Serenity_.

* * *

 

Kaulder knew that when the ‘Verse changed there were only a few people who would notice. People hadn’t noticed back when the Witch Queen had made her attempted comeback. Someone had said that the world was made for the unaware and he was pretty certain it was true.

River, once all of the drugs she’d been on were completely out of her system, had proved to be an excellent navigator. And in an emergency she could pitch hit as a pilot. She’d gone through their library faster than anyone he’d ever seen.

It had still taken her six months, it was a very large library after all. And they’d had other things to do. Like hunt down the people on the Parliament who’d thought pacifying a world via drugs and playing with a Witch’s brain were good ideas.

Jayne had been invaluable for that. The man hadn’t been joking when he said his gift was hunting and tracking. The hardest part was making what had befallen the members of parliament look like an accident. In the end after Jayne had satisfied his gift by beating them bloody, River had used some of the magic she’d learned to heal them of the wounds while Chloe went in and planted suggestions in their brains.

They’d gotten the idea for that when River had been triggered. Apparently the Parliament had been getting nervous about the lack of progress their mercenaries and bounty hunters were making and they’d begun broadcasting subliminal messages during advertisements. River had nearly taken out an entire bar before Chloe had gotten into her mind and made her sleep. They wouldn’t be going back to that bar again.

Chloe had gone in and with River’s help, found the triggers they’d implanted and rendered them inert. If she could do that, they’d reasoned, she could implant them as well.

So usually a few days to a week after they’d visited a member of parliament, that person died in a tragic accident. Even in the Core it was dangerous to step out into the street without looking. One fellow died while eating a rare delicacy. Sadly, he seemed to be allergic to it and hadn’t known.

Long term projects regarding the Parliament were in the words but the next problem they needed to tackle was the Reavers. That was where Kaulder and Chloe came in.

Powerful as they were, the three Witches weren’t quite powerful enough to work a hex on all the Reavers. Even taking them a ship at a time it would take years. And then there was hunting them down. So, it was decided to go for a slightly more practical approach.

It had been Chloe’s idea. She’d pointed out that if an imprisoned coven could raise the Witch Queen then what’s to say a larger (free) coven couldn’t deal with Reavers.  They'd started with Serenity's witches, Zoe and Kaylee and the new gunhand Jake.  Zoe's gift had been linked to air, and Kaulder's instincts about shielding had been right on the money.  Jake was more metal working, with an uncanny ability for creating spelled bullets.

It had taken them some time, but they’d managed to contact every Witch they knew, and in turn told them to contact the Witches they knew. River had calculated that so long as they had a larger number of Witches than the three million and change Reaver population that the spell would work.

The logistics of it would have been an even bigger pain in the ass than they were but with a genius on their ‘team’ it made things a little easier. The waves had gone out with the time and date carefully tailored to each group on each planet.

He hadn’t been able to act as the ground for all of them, only their small circle, but since most of the Witches were planetside they didn’t need someone like him to ground them.

They’d tried everything to reverse the effects of the Pax but nothing they’d come up with would actually work without constant reinforcement. Even with every Dream Walker in the ‘Verse it wouldn’t be enough to work a permanent change. The damage done was too great. River had explained it as neural scarring, physical scarring, not mental. Unless they could work a mass healing spell and a memory hex simultaneously. Even then, she couldn’t be certain of success.

So, they’d reluctantly put aside the idea of curing the Reavers and gone on to a way to destroy them.

It had been the most powerful working he’d been a part of. And ultimately successful. They’d all been a little let down in spite of that though.

* * *

 

Chloe sighed as she put her books away and looked over at River. The other Dream Walker was quiet and leaning on Jayne for comfort. It had been hard for all of them to destroy the Reavers. Knowing that they were wiping out a planet’s entire population of Witches simply because some old men had decided to play God had been one of the most difficult things she’d ever done.

The bright side was that River and Simon were no longer fugitives thanks to some judicious dream influences upon members of Parliament. Simon cared about that more than River did, but he did have fewer ways to defend himself if caught.

Jayne and River’s courtship had progressed, with a few bumps, but their attachment to each other was more than her need for stability and his liking her looks and feeling protective. They’d managed to develop a true partnership, similar to her and Kaulder’s.

River had also figured out that she and Kaulder were much older than they looked. It hadn’t mattered much to her, but for satisfying her curiosity about Earth That Was. Jayne hadn’t believed it at first but eventually he’d become convinced, after seeing Kaulder’s selection of weaponry. Hexenbane was very convincing.

Chloe looked over at Kaulder and Jayne. Kaulder was teaching Jayne the ins and outs of sword fighting, with a broadsword of all things. River was happily looking into investment opportunities and how they might be adapted to using Jayne’s gift. The ship was humming along beneath them.

It wasn’t a bad life.

**Author's Note:**

> Author’s Note: Just a little something that hit me a while back and I figured why not stretch my brain a bit. I didn’t want another huge long story spanning the series and movie and I figured with a Dream Walker it would be easier to figure out what was wrong with River. I didn’t use any quotes in this one! Shocking I know.
> 
> Chinese Translations:
> 
> gē ge (big brother)
> 
> Tā mā de niǎo (goddamn it)
> 
> Jiàn guǐ (curse it! / to hell with it!)
> 
> Wǒ de mā (My mother!)
> 
> chǔn lǘ (silly ass)
> 
> Měi rén bì zuǐ (Everybody shut up!)
> 
> diān dǎo (To turn upside down / to reverse / back to front / confused / deranged / crazy)
> 
> jùn jié (genius)
> 
> Wǒ cào (holy fuck / lit. 'I fuck')
> 
> ān ān (honey (endearment in addressing a little girl))
> 
> Tài kōng suǒ yǒu de xīng qiú sāi jǐn wǒ de pì gu (Shove All the Planets in the universe up my ass)
> 
> Cào nà (fuck that)
> 
> gǒu niáng yǎng de (son of a bitch)
> 
> hún dàns (bastards)
> 
> jiàn huò (bitch)


End file.
